This situation was predictable after the latest acquisitions of the French club, including Neymar, Mbappé and Dani Alves. Anyway, Edinson Cavani, a player that was with PSG last season, is shining as the squad’s brightest star.  

Including all the tournaments in which Paris Saint-Germain is competing Cavani has recorded 10 goals, two more than Neymar and Mbabppé together, averaging a score per contest. Although he is not as popular in planet football as other great players, the Uruguayan striker is the second top scorer in European soccer in the last two years, trailing Argentinean Leo Messi.

 Last season, Cavani became the owner of PSG’s attack after Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic left for Manchester United. In the 2016-17 season Cavani conquered Europe’s Silver Boot, scoring 35 goals in 36 French league games, only two less than Barcelona’s Messi, who accounted for 37 in La Liga.  

Cavani is the forward every manager would love to coach. He has excellent physical skills and can strike with his head and both feet. He fights for every loose and gets open with ease, generating more scoring chances than any other player in Europe. 

Since he arrived in the Old Continent, signed by Italy’s Palermo in 2006, the Uruguayan showed a terrific ability to score. Four years later he transferred to Naples and in 2013 he was acquired by PSG. Since the 2010-2011 campaign Cavani has scored at least 25 goals every year, delivering 30 or more in five of the seven seasons.  

The arrival of Neymar & Co to Paris raised a lot of questions about Cavani’s future, but the Uruguayan’s hunger to score has been sparked by this situation. 

Cavani showed a lot of character arguing with Neymar about who was going to deliver a free kick a fortnight ago. His best argument to continue starting for PSG is his ability to produce, which we witnessed when he delivered a hard strike to score the second goal against Bayern two days ago. 

Cavani is also playing a key role for Uruguay’s National Team, which ranks second in the South American qualifying tournament for Russia 2018 World Cup. The striker is the top scorer with nine goals, two more than Felipe Caicedo from Ecuador and three more than Neymar. 

With only two games remaining, Uruguay has a comfortable three-point lead over the teams fighting for the last qualifying spot. Having weak Venezuela and Bolivia as its last opponents, the Uruguayans should not have any problems to clinch a new World Cup berth.

Latin players have led the last two World Cups in scoring. In South Africa 2010 another Uruguayan, Diego Forlán paced the tournament with five goals. Four years later, in Brazil Colombian James Rodríguez was the World Cup’s top scorer with six tallies. If Uruguay has a long run in Russia 2018, there is no doubt Cavani will be amongst the top favorites to win the Golden Boot.